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Lubbock: “The franchise capital of Texas”

Franchise businesses in Lubbock have boomed in the past several years, and many of those new businesses are run and owned by Lubbockites.

Local franchise owners have attracted national franchise chains, such as Dunkin’ Donuts, Baskin-Robbins, Louisiana-based Walk-On’s Bistreaux &Bar, Panera Bread and In-N-Out Burger. Those owners said once they promote the city to franchise corporations, and get corporate owners to visit Lubbock, they typically agree to expand their business to the Hub City.

Hillary and Justin Sharbutt opened several franchise businesses recently, including Blo Blow Dry Bar at 4511 98th St.; Tide Dry Cleaners at 4511 98th St.; three Dunkin’ Donuts, at 7723 Milwaukee Ave., 7901 University Ave. and 4328 50th St.; one Baskin-Robbins at 7901 University Ave. and BurgerFi at 4210 82nd St.

Hillary said introducing Lubbock to national franchise corporate owners can be a challenging task because most think of Lubbock as a small city — too small for their businesses.

“They’re thinking of (Lubbock) as this small town,” she said. “But I’d say, ‘You don’t understand. We may not have foot traffic but you can get anywhere in 10 minutes. It’s this thriving, booming town.’ Once you can get them to get past the idea of being this little town in West Texas, which we really aren’t anymore, (Lubbock) is so appealing.”

Justin, Hillary’s husband, said once franchise corporate owners jump on board with opening a Lubbock location, they are surprised with the city’s affordable real estate and how quickly construction gets done.

“Real estate is pretty easy here in Lubbock,” Justin said. “(Corporate officials) are used to seeing outrageous prices, or there are land locks and they got to find something and redo it. Where we can say we’re going to build it ourselves and make it the exact way you want it, that helps a lot. They’re seeing lower rent costs and lower construction costs.”

Josh Allen, franchise co-owner of Walk-On’s Bistreaux &Bar at 2630 W. Loop 289 and Cantina Laredo at 114 W. Loop 289, said Lubbock’s population also is a contributing factor for national franchises to expand into the city.

“We’re the largest city between Dallas and Albuquerque — we’re the hub of the South Plains,” Allen said. “I think the thing that Lubbock has that other places don’t is we’re very diverse and we also service an enormous amount of people. Lubbock looks extremely good on paper. If you just look on the internet, the population of Lubbock is between 240,000 to 250,000 ... Whenever you see all the universities that are in our area and you see all the agriculture and the medical district … we’re comparable to some areas of the Metroplex where there are million-population stores. (Franchise corporations) have to come here because they don’t believe it’s going to be like that.”

Laura Neinast, DEFINE body &mind franchise owner, got the opportunity to open the business at 4413 82nd St. She said she choose Lubbock over Amarillo and Oklahoma because of Lubbock’s recent franchise boom.

“I chose Lubbock because a lot of people say Lubbock is like the franchise capital of Texas, which it is,” Neinast said. “You have all these local businesses that are opening, trying to make a great success for themselves and Lubbock has all these franchises that come in and flood the market. Most of the franchises here have been successful.”

With many franchise businesses opening in Lubbock, local franchise owners said their businesses have a positive impact on the economy.

“The money truly is here — it’s with us,” she said. “You got maybe this tiny percentage that goes to corporate. It may be a franchise but that’s just a concept — it is buying something that works so that we can be providing this amazing (business). I think that just because it has a name that you can see in an other town doesn’t mean that it’s not local.”

Justin Sharbutt said national franchise chains willing to invest in Lubbock is a sign that businesses can be successful.

“They need to grow and put more stores out here in Lubbock and all of West Texas,” Justin said. “It’s proven that businesses can succeed here.”

For more on Lubbock’s franchising business, pick up a copy of the February edition of Lubbock Business Inc.